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Police complete ride for fallen officers

Andrea Hayward and Miles Godfrey

It was a sight to behold: hundreds of motorbikes humming into the national capital on an organised ride by police officers to remember their fallen comrades.

More than 200 NSW police set off from Sydney on Saturday morning as part of the first Wall to Wall motorbike ride, in memory of fallen police officers killed in the line of duty.

The event was made more significant after the loss of trainee detective William Crews, 26, who was shot during a botched drug raid in Sydney on September 8.

Among those who left Sydney was Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus, acting Tasmanian Commissioner Darren Hine, West Australian Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan and Northern Territory Commissioner John McRoberts.

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A group of about 50 WA officers, who have taken a week riding across the country to raise money for a children's cancer ward, met up with the group, as did Victorian, NT and South Australian colleagues.

In the end between 600 and 800 officers arrived at the memorial wall at Canberra on Saturday afternoon to honour the dead.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the ride had been a long time in the planning.

"Having said that, it couldn't have come at a more important time for us," Mr Scipione told reporters before the NSW group departed Sydney.

Mr Negus told the officers gathered at the memorial that the ride was about being by yourself and being able to reflect underneath the helmet as the group slowed along the way at points where officers had been killed.

The names on the wall represented colleagues who had paid the ultimate price when doing their job, he said.

"It's a price we expect to pay and are prepared to pay," Mr Negus said.

Police Federation of Australia chief executive officer Mark Burgess said the wall held the names of 748 officers killed in the line of duty, the first in 1803.

"The blank touchstones on the wall are a stark reminder that more officers will be killed in the future and more will be added over the years."

Senior Constable Rob Darkin, a policeman from Wollongong who joined the group at Goulburn, said he was impressed with the number of officers who jumped on their bikes and donned their leathers to make the journey.

It was a great way to remember the fallen and a fitting way to get people to think motorbike safety, including riding with lights on, Snr Const Darkin said.

"That's what we've tried to do with this ride today as well," he told AAP.

Funds raised to register for the ride will go to the Police Legacy fund to support the partners and children of officers killed at work.